


Under the Sea

by QueenOfCarrotFlowers



Series: Finnreylo Modern Ménage [27]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aquariums, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 19:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20376550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfCarrotFlowers/pseuds/QueenOfCarrotFlowers
Summary: Rey, Finn and Ben have a fancy dinner at the aquarium.





	Under the Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunbug1138](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunbug1138/gifts).

> Happy Birthday to sunbug1138! You like the FRMAU and you like octopi so I thought I would give you a bit of both. Many happy returns and here's to another year of friendship.

Rey, Finn and Ben have driven eighty miles on a crowded interstate to eat a fancy dinner at an aquarium.

It's a favor for Ben's mom, Leia. She's running for office, which necessitates a lot of fundraising and shaking of hands and going out in public. The dinner is a fundraiser, and at this particular fundraiser she's pushing for what she calls the "Real Family" vote.

"Please come and bring Rey and Finn. Please?" She'd called him two weeks ago begging them all to attend.

"No, Mom," he'd insisted. "It's just a photo op, and I don't like the idea of using my family as a kind of prop for your candidacy. It's gross."

"Finn likes the idea."

Ben had seen red and had to see down.

"Are you serious? You called Finn first?"

"No!" She'd yelled, then took a few breaths before continuing more quietly, "I ran into him at the grocery store earlier. I told him about the dinner and he suggested you come. He loves these events, you know he does. Please come?"

A few texts with Finn and ten minutes later, Ben had grumpily agreed to go, and now here they were, sitting together at a table for ten surrounded by the Open Sea displays in the bowels of the aquarium.

Ben sits between Finn and Rey, both of whom are busy chatting with people on either side of them. Rose and Poe are at the same table, but they’re sitting directly across the radius of the circle from Ben so it isn’t really possible for him to talk to them. And in any case they’re completely absorbed in conversation with each other - very absorbed indeed. Interesting.

So instead of trying to talk, Ben watches the sea creatures swimming around behind the clear glass walls. The entire space is like being inside a bubble under the ocean; he tracks a shark as it leisurely swims from beside the door to the kitchen, up and overhead, and then down behind where his mother sits, next to Amilyn Holdo and some old white man. Ben’s father sits on the other side of Amilyn, looking scruffy and a bit bored. He catches Ben’s eye and gives him a half smile as he rolls his eyes, and Ben raises his glass and does the same in response. It feels good, sharing a moment like that with his dad.

“Which one would you be, then?” The voice to his right is quiet but still surprises him enough to make him jump. It’s followed by a laugh and a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, man, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t scare me, Finn,” Ben replies, turning his head to look his boyfriend in the face. “Just surprised me a little.”

Finn looks good - Ben thinks he always looks good but he looks especially good now, he had his hair done so the sides are trimmed but his twists are long, and he’s wearing his purple suit. Finn’s grinning and looking at Ben’s mouth, and that makes Ben feel like he probably looks good too. At least he looks good to Finn, and that’s what matters.

“So anyway, which one would you be?” Finn repeats, gesturing at the giant aquarium that surrounds them. “Out of all the sea creatures, if you could be one of them, which one?”

Ben doesn’t even have to think about it. “I’d be an octopus, I think.”

Finn tilts his head and hums. “Huh, interesting. Can you tell me why?”

Ben looks up just in time to see a giant stingray fly through the water right over his head, its mouth looking like a little face smiling down at him.

“Because they’re shy,” he answers, tracking the animal as it continues to swim down the side of the bubble, “and they can hide really well. They’re big but they can squish up to fit in tight spaces. And they’re really smart.”

“They're also very strong, and they have tentacles,” a second voice chimes in from Ben’s other side. “Tentacles might be interesting.”

Ben glances down from the underside of the stingray and there’s Rey, biting her lip and grinning.

“They might,” he agrees, and the point of her tongue peeks out from between her lips as she wriggles on her seat. “They also just have lots of arms. Good for hugging.”

“That’s not really what I was implying.”

He gives her a kiss on the cheek. “I know it’s not.”

Rey looks good too. She went with Leia this afternoon to have her hair professionally done and it’s pulled up in a pile of soft curls, much more feminine that her usual bun. Her dress is low-cut and exposes her neck and her collarbone, and the dark blue silk makes a lovely contrast to the freckle-scattered gold of her chest.

“My face is up here,” she teases, and Finn laughs into his water glass.

“What about you, then?” Ben asks Rey. “What sea creature would you be?”

“I’d be a stingray, of course. Get it? A Sting REY?” Ben closes his eyes and Finn groans audibly, but Rey just laughs.

“How many glasses of wine have you had, anyway?” Finn asks her, placing his left hand on Ben’s thigh so he can lean across him.

“Too many I guess,” she responds, still giggling, and takes a sip from her water glass.

“Why a stingray, though?” It’s a silly game but Ben’s still curious. “Just because of the name?”

“Well,” said Rey, finger on her chin and actually looking thoughtful, “they’re really cute, like me. And they’re flat so they can fit under things, like I fit under cars. And they have those funny faces on their underside…”

“Just like you,” Finn interrupts, but Rey punches him in the chest where he’s still leaning in Ben’s lap. He laughs first, then moans. “Ow, that hurt.”

“Don’t interrupt me when I’m talking. Anyway, they have those funny faces and they look sweet but then they have those venomous tails so they’re actually really dangerous.”

She takes another sip of water, finished with her explanation.

“Woah,” Ben replies. “That’s actually pretty good.”

“It’s not too bad,” Rey assents, “considering I made it up on the spot.” 

“What about you?” Ben turns to Finn, now sitting back up in his chair, rubbing a hand against his chest. “What sea creature would you be?”

“I’d be a dolphin, of course!” He answers with a smile. “Not because of the name, although that’s cute, but because dolphins are known for their fine and friendly personalities and their social natures, but they have a secret dark side.”

“That sounds about right, don’t you think?” Rey says, and Ben has to agree.

“It’s pretty perfect.”

“Maybe later, if you’re lucky,” whispers Finn, leaning back in so they can both hear him, “I’ll show you some of my dark side.”

Ben wants to come up with a smart response, but then his mother taps her fork against her glass and cries of _Speech! Speech!_ fill the room, so he has to settle for a meaningful glance instead. 

The three hold hands under the table, and Ben’s mother takes the podium to give a short speech about the loving power of Real Families. 

**Author's Note:**

> Finnreylo says poly rights!
> 
> I'm @finnreylo on Twitter and leofgyth on Tumblr and leoba on Pillowfort if you want to say hello.


End file.
